I can never get enough of the beat ’em up genre. It’s sad that these games aren’t as prevalent as they once were because they’re just as enjoyable as they ever were. It must have been pretty easy to make a good one because there were several of them back in the genre’s heyday. Apparently it was just as easy to make a bad beat ’em up because we have those too. Atari is well known for making bad games and consoles in this era. Their handheld, the Atari Lynx, was undeniably ahead of its time but didn’t have incredible game support. Today I’m looking at a beat ’em up game for it entitled Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop. Is it worth playing today? Nope, and I’m here to tell you why.
In Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop you play as the namesake police officer. He’s a man who plays by no one’s rules but his own. The story begins as he’s being screamed at by the chief for wrecking his third police car in a week. He’s told that he’s got to do his job on foot from now on. That’s not enough to stop this rebel, and so he takes to the street to get rid of crime in Steelburg USA. It follows the 80s cop movie trope and I actually really liked this aspect of the game.
Larry plays by his own rules, but that isn’t exactly a good thing. At least the game explains why he’s on foot. Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop is pretty traditional as far as beat ’em up games go. You’re limited here to moving only left or right but you can at least jump and duck. Your goal is to move from the left side of every stage to the right. Standing in your way is an array of different thugs with their own attacks. Most enemies take two or three hits before they’re defeated. Larry is kind of a big deal so his primary weapon is his fists, but you also start with a handgun that has limited ammunition. You have a health bar as well as an indicator showing the number of bullets you have.
As you progress you’ll also get a rifle (at least I think that’s what it is) that fires slightly faster than the handgun. It’s functionally similar however. Dirty Larry isn’t the only one who is bearing arms however as many of your opponents will fire bullets at you too. Otherwise they attack with their fists or melee weapons. As is typical in this genre enemies repeat. A lot. You’ll be facing off against the same foes at every turn. The game has only four or five different variations of foe and after a few minutes it gets old. Fast. Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop has very little in the way of diversity.
That’s putting things lightly. Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop is one of the most repetitive beat ’em up games you’ll encounter anywhere. The restricted plane of movement paired with repeating enemies means there’s barely any changes in gameplay scenario. You can jump, but there are no obstacles besides enemies and their shots that require you to actually make use of this. What’s worse is that the stages even repeat themselves. You’ll walk through the city, and take the subway twice. It’s like Atari completed the game and realized they had to pad it out somehow. This just isn’t the way to do it especially in title with so few of gameplay scenarios and enemies.
One of the big problems with Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop is the hit detection. To start the game runs like molasses. It’s a little choppy and your character seems to move rather stiffly. Unlike most similar games there’s no jump button. Instead you press up on the directional pad. I understand that the system lacked a lot of inputs, but I’ve always hated this. Your default weapon is Larry’s punch. Unfortunately it is very weird functionally. You have to strike in the dead center of an enemy to hit them. While you’re doing this the enemies move on both sides of you. It’s cheap and makes the game more difficult than it should have been. You have to stay on your toes to be successful.
While Larry moves slowly the enemies are pretty fast. Because they approach from both sides of the screen this quickly becomes more annoying than anything. Because of the bad hit detection you’ll only be able to finish this one by memorizing when and where they appear. The bullets move slowly across the screen. I found that in general it was useful to fire when no one was on-screen as long as you’re moving forward. That’s not exactly good design. I couldn’t find anything that helped deal with the issue of enemies approaching from the left. Good luck with that one.
Despite it’s issues Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop is actually a really good looking game. The opening sequence with our crazy protagonist laying in bed looks amazing for the hardware what with the ceiling fan moving. The other story sequences are great and move very smoothly. During gameplay Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop is a lot less impressive. The stages repeat as I mentioned earlier, and even the original areas are very bland. Oddly enough this game lacks music. There’s a track in the beginning during the story sequence but this one is mostly silent. It’s a real shame if you ask me.
Even on a platform lacking in good games such as the Atari Lynx, Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop still isn’t a great pick. The weird hit detection, repetitive level design, clunky controls, and bland enemies makes for an ultimately forgettable experience. Dirty Larry was made by a group of people who seem to have not had any passion.\. Someone really loved the early 90s police atmosphere but hated fun video games. I really didn’t enjoy my time with this one, but it is better than the likes of Kung Food.
